Mumbai, August 06: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell over 140 points in opening trade today as foreign funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid weak US markets.
The BSE-30 share benchmark Sensex, which had gained 72.85 points in yesterday’s volatile session, moved down by 140.46 points or 0.88 percent to 15,763.37 in opening trade.
Similarly, the Nifty index on the wide-based National Stock Exchange lost 41.70 points to 4,652.45.
Stocks of oil and gas, realty and metal sectors, which had risen sharply in the recent run-up, succumbed to profit-taking, pulling down the Sensex.
Market analysts said emergence of profit-booking by major players, including foreign funds, at existing higher levels led to a fall in select stocks.
They said overnight losses in the US markets after weak data on the services sector also cast its shadow on the trading sentiments on the domestic market to some extent.
Major losers which dragged the Sensex down were Reliance Industries (down 0.40 percent to Rs 2,067), Infosys Technologies (down 0.65 percent to Rs 2,081), ICICI Bank (down 0.28 percent to Rs 771.20), Rcom (down 1.23 percent to Rs 276.20), Tata Motors (down 1.48 percent to Rs 442.80) and Tata Power (down 1.25 percent to Rs 1,296).
Among metal stocks, Sterlite Industries, country’s largest copper producer, fell by 1.85 percent to Rs 668.05 after metal prices fell by nearly 3 percent in global market, while Tata Steel shed 1.67 percent to Rs 465.20.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.42 percent down yesterday.
–Agencies